Young engineers catapulted forward

READING'S young engineers battled under the watchful gaze of the Atomic Weapons Establishment on Friday last week in an annual schools challenge designed to prove that engineering can be fun.

Twelve schools from across Berkshire and Hampshire took part in the challenge, which this year was held at Tadley AWE.

Their brief was to design, build and test-fire a catapult, using limited materials bought on a

set budget.

Teamwork, a good choice of materials and sound planning were called for - all the skills

needed for an engineering career.

The final designs were put through a series of tests to measure the accuracy, distance and power of the finished catapult, with the winners chosen by a panel of judges.

Although a school from Hampshire snatched the first prize of £1,000 for technology equipment, the second and third prizes of £500 and £250 were taken home by Reading Kendrick School and The Abbey School respectively.

AWE graduate scientist Hayley Webb, who helped plan and organise the event, said: "It was a very good learning exercise and the day was a great success with some very worthy winners.

"The participants had a lot of fun coming up with some novel catapult designs and thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the day."